Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Monster N-Tune Headphones

Disclaimer: this is a paid review, but the opinions are honest, and you can win a free pair of headphones, too. Just check out the sweepstakes info at the bottom of this post.

Two days before Rain was to leave as a missionary, we received a package in the mail, containing these Monster headphones! Rain, being something of an audiophile, was super excited to "test them out" for the afternoon.

Before we get to our full review, though, let's talk about the packaging. We sure felt like we'd received something special. What beautiful packaging! Very sleek. They come in a "rainbow" of colors. We happened to receive the purple version. The packaging itself makes me inclined to think of them as a gift idea. Very nice.

Now for the "real world" testing. We agreed to do this review because my husband LOVES his music. He wears headphones. every. single. day. So here's my husband's "just some dude" real word testing and review:

Okay, let's get something straight right away. I'm a music snob, and I've been wearing headphones for over 35 years now (not earbuds. I hate earbuds) and I tend to turn the music up very LOUD (yes I know, too loud can lead to hearing loss etc, blah-blah-blah). I expect my music to be well played by the musicians and I expect my headphones to be able to re-create it as it was intended to be heard and felt. Back in the late 70s/early 80s I used to place two HUGE speakers on either side of my head and lay there for hours, just listening. I no longer have time to do that, so I wear headphones every day while working out and taking care of daily life (see pics). I average 2 to 4 hours every day with headphones on, so I have some pretty clear ideas on comfort, sound etc. I'm not into the glitzy packaging but if it makes a difference to you then it comes well appointed in a very over engineered box. With added bonuses in a carry bag and cleaning cloth, sticker, manuals etc. (all of which honestly I will never use, though you might). Having a nice round head I found they hugged my melon firmly but not painfully, just enough to feel like they weren't going to fall off the first time I bent over to pick something up from the floor. Nice. The tangle free audio cable has a nice thickness and length to it, unlike some thin cables that seem to always break and never have enough length to it to reach comfortably to a waist mounted device without catching or pulling. I really like the option of being able to use either side earpiece to plug the cables into and the ability to plug in an additional set of headphones if desired so a friend can listen in. I personally prefer Over-the-ear headphones, but this On-the-ear style really surprised me. I usually find that On-the-ear units tend to leak sound in and out and start to hurt my ears after time. This Monster N-Tune set has done a great job to minimize leakage (they call it Passive Noise Isolation, whatever that is). I was also pleased to find that after I wore it for 6 hours yesterday, that the expected painfull ache never appearing in my ears. The sound quality really caught me off guard. It is rich and full through all types of genres of music that I listen to. Metal, Country, Folk, Broadway, Musicals, 70s rock, 80s new wave, and AOR all sounded wonderful. No overpowering flares, deep bass or too bright highs seemed to overwhelm these headphones. They handled it all cleanly and clearly. I found I went through the day without noticing any flaws in the reproduction of my music list, something that doesn't happen with lower quality headphones. Granted, if you are looking for something with just overpowering volume and low end bass, and are willing to compromise the vocals and sound of the mids and highs then these may not be for you. I have other more expensive headphones, but these have delivered great quality sound, comfort and options across the board. Enough so that I will not hesitate to throw these on every day and be perfectly content with the music filling my head.

Sweepstakes Info!

To
win your very own pair of N-Tune headphones (valued at $150), read all about the Monsters here and let us know in the comments which color you prefer. The comments on this
post will be aggregated with the comments on the posts from the other bloggers
participating in this review, and 25 pairs will be given away. This giveaway will close on Nov 1st.

Sweepstakes Rules:

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methods:

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post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.

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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will
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The Official Rules are available here.This sweepstakes runs from 10/2/13 – 11/1/13.